THE WIFE ASSIGNMENT (Rogue Protectors 5) by Victoria Paige-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 26, 2022.

On the brink of divorce, he’d play dirty for a second chance.

Levi James is a complicated man.
A teddy bear to his girls.
A bossy lover in the bedroom.
And an elite bodyguard to the stars.
So when another man tries to get between him and his estranged wife,
complicated doesn’t even begin to cut it.

Kelly James doesn’t want complicated.
Proving she can move on from her soon-to-be-ex-husband seems like a brilliant idea.
Until someone close to her goes missing, and the police tag Levi as suspect number one.
When her mafia relations come into question, complicated becomes deadly.

••••••

REVIEW: THE WIFE ASSIGNMENT is the fifth instalment in Victoria Paige’s contemporary, adult ROGUE PROTECTORS erotic, romantic suspense series focusing on a group of former and current US Navy SEALs, CIA operatives, and law enforcement. This is US Navy SEAL Levi and designer/Hollywood make up artist Kelly James’ storyline. THE WIFE ASSIGNMENT can be read as a stand alone but for back story and cohesion, I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion. There is a slight cross-over with the author’s DE LUCCI’S OBSESSION.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Levi and Kelly) THE WIFE ASSIGNMENT follows the collapsing relationship and marriage of Levi and Kelly James. Approximately five years earlier, Levi lost a friend and Kelly’s brother Callum in an overseas operation that went all to h*ll. In the interim, Levi struggled with the guilt, leaving his wife and children behind. When Levi finally returned home, Kelly pushed for a divorce, and eighteen months would pass as Levi worked to make himself a better man but someone was waiting in the wings, and Levi saw red when his best friend took aim at the woman he loved. A missing person’s report would pull in Levi’s former US Navy SEALs team, a report that would see the Russian Bratva and the Italian Mob taking aim at our story line couple. What ensues is the rebuilding relationship between Kelly and Levi, and the fall-out as the dead and missing resurface, forcing a confrontation between the powers at the top of the criminal underworld.

The relationship between Levi and Kelly is one of second chances; a rekindling romance in which Kelly battled between head and heart with the years of abandonment and rejection by the man that she loved. A high sexual rekindling, Levi and Kelly would both struggle with ghosts from the past, ghosts that refused to remain buried and gone. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and passionate but I dislike the use of a certain four-letter word in my romance story lines.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including most of the previous story line couples, as well as Kelly’s adopted parents, brothers and sisters; Kelly’s birth mother and step-brother, as well as Kelly and Levi’s daughters Ashley and Whitney. The requisite evil has many faces.

THE WIFE ASSIGNMENT is a story of secrets and lies, grief and loss, retribution and retaliation, power and control, acceptance, forgiveness and love. The premise is detailed, complex and involved-I had not read any of the previous story lines and felt a little lost with the mention of characters and events; the characters are numerous, determined and charismatic; the romance is provocative and intense.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy